Cold War: The Space Race

In the period after World War II, from the late 1940’s up until the 1990’s, the United States and their allies were engaged in a “cold” war with the Soviet Union and its allies. Except for minor proxy wars between countries supported by the respective sides, no major wars were fought between the U.S. and the USSR. Nonetheless, tensions were extremely high for many years and the two superpowers constantly went back and forth trying to best the other. Likely the most well-known of these competitions was the Space Race. Battling for cosmic supremacy from the late 1950’s to 1969, the two countries traded many victories over the years and pushed each other to their technological apexes.

During the twentieth century, the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union became prevalent through proxy wars and the Space Race. The Cold War had begun in 1947 when the United States had become more worried about the growing influence of the Soviet Union on Eastern European nations. The rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States had become one of the biggest contests, that eventually culminated in the dissociation of the Soviet Union. Although there were many different events that had occurred during the Cold War, perhaps the most important one would be the Space Race. Despite popular belief, the moon landing was the reason that America became a global superpower because it showed America had superior

The Space Race was characterised by a series of new developments and technological advancements made in Space by the USA and USSR from the late 1950s to the late 1960s (see appendix ii). The Race spawned from the Cold War between the USA and USSR during this time, and was among other conflicts, such as the Arms Race and Nuclear Armament, a source of tension between the two superpowers.

This historical investigation traces the emergence of American nationalism in the United States within the concept of The Space Race during The Cold War. It aims to analyse the factors that fueled the Space Race between USSR and the US, such as America’s general anti-communist ideology, national security of the United States, the sense of nationalism and the threat to U.S. dominance on the world scale, whilst answering the following research question: To what extent did American nationalism contribute to the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War?

The Space Race was a 20th century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States of America and the Soviet Union. This competition was held between 1955 until 1972 and enabled these two rivals to advance their ability of spaceflight and their exploration out of the Earth’s reach. The competition covered several ways in taking human life out of Earth’s orbit and to successfully bring them back home in the process. The Space Race brought about several controversial topics relating to how the USSR copied the methods conducted by the United States, how the United States retaliated against the USSR and the man landing was purposely staged or not. These factors contribute to a large extent on how the space race was won. The Space Race

The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space. From 1955 until 1975, both sides battled it out to be the leader in the competition. Fueled by the Cold War and other causes of the beginning of the race, the Soviet Union and the United States fought for authority in a very public manner through the media. There were many achievements at this time and it led the way for many great things to come afterwards.

The Cold War was an all-encompassing face of the 20th century, world politics, and a major idea during this time was domination of the skies. The United States competed against The Soviet Union in a war unlike any other, they didn’t fight with guns, bombs, or war machines but with science and the battlefield was space. The prioritization of the space race on the national agenda was characterized by an urgency, which underscored the commitment to the U.S. to defeat the Soviet Union by all means necessary. This came at the cost of billions of dollars, resources, lives, and political forces.

Have you heard of the “Space Race”? It all began when the Soviet Union sent the first artificial satellite “Sputnik 1” into space. After that the United States rushed to catch up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances, and the Space Race started. The Space Race finally ended in 1969, when we sent the first man to land on the moon. The Space Race had many impacts on the Cold War.

The American and Soviet Union space programs were in a race to space during the cold war. This space race reflected many political, social, and economic aspects of the cold war. The fact that both countries were in the middle of a cold war didn’t help.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the landing module onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 marking the first time in human history man had stepped food on a celestial body other than Earth. This event effectively won a more than 10 year competition of scientific advancement and research for the USA, bringing humans to the heavens and setting many precedents for the Cold War. This was known as the “Space Race” between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the USSR or the Soviet Union. This event reflected both countries situations in three major ways: politically, socially, and economically.

The Space Race is a pivotal part of the Cold War’s history. During the ending of World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated a military, political, and technological supremacy battle. There was no physical fighting, instead both superpowers competed through space exploration. Between 1957-1969 the United States and the Soviet Union battled to overcome and take control over space which led to tensions alleviating in the 1970’s causing the pressure and necessity to decrease resulting in both superpowers collaborating in many tasks. Many of the technology that dealt with space exploration began with military affiliations. The

The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to see which nation could achieve spaceflight dominance before the other. The Race began on August 2, 1955 and ended nearly 40 years later in December of 1991. The Space Race began because of two major factors that would carry it until its end. The Soviet Union’s announcement that they were going to began building and using satellites to use in space days before the United States planned to announce the same thing helped fuel the fire for the competition. The Cold War also played a very influential role in the competitiveness between the countries and would inspire them to be better and work harder than their rival. The general public also played a key role in the race. Reinforcing your country’s involvement in the race gave them the all clear to spend money to build these space crafts, satellites and other technology in order to not only win, but to please the people. If a country has the support of its people they can accomplish anything. Propaganda like posters became a great way of encouraging the people to get involved and stay involved. Posters depicted great spaceships only seen in movies, engrained a hatred for the opposing country, the influence the race had on the future, and astronauts as real life superheroes like Superman. Most importantly the Space Race was a time of great inventions that carry on to

During the Cold War, the United States and Russia had a severe space race between one another. Every time one country would be a step ahead of the other, and somehow one of the countries would catch up to the more advanced country at the time. During the early years of the space race, success was measured by what nation did what first: To the alarm of the United States, each of the early adventures were achieved by the Soviet Union. And all of those events triggered the United States to drive and catch up with to surpass the Soviet Union. This sort of see-saw method happen throughout the space race. Throughout this paper, there will be a discussion on the space race between the United Stated and

Having experienced many setbacks in relations with the Soviet Union up to this point, there was now a growing sense of optimism in America that détente with its many possibilities was the precursor to a new era of cooperation with the Russians. This sentiment spilled over into NASA and resulted in the unorthodox sharing of scientific data with

Space exploration was born out of the intense competition between the two great superpowers of the 20th century. The space race was a byproduct of the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both sides devoted immense resources and manpower to attempt to surpass the other in astronautical achievement. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the approach towards space exploration changed dramatically. What began as a fierce competition between major powers became a partnership involving many nations working together. Space exploration projects, like the International Space Station, are only feasible through international joint effort, and because of this have helped to foster more cooperative relations between countries – not only diplomatically, but also economically.